Maybe it was the sheer hubris of President Ford and the two doctor-gods of vaccines, thinking that they could pull this off, assuming that the press would remain credulous and simply report the news. Maybe it was that just beneath the surface of the seemingly unified federal bureaucracies lay dissenters, political advisors, and scientists who told themselves that even if the decision makers did not want to hear them, the public would. Or maybe it was just that there was a critical mass of people who were convinced this swine flu immunization campaign was a cockeyed idea.
